Database
by bearshorty
Summary: Even Watchers must adjust to new technology. In the fall of 1995, Methos just needs to convince Joe it is a good idea. Written for Fannish Library Fest.


Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis-Panzer Productions. I'm just playing with the characters for fun and not for any profit.

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><p>"We're closed," Joe automatically said as he heard the door open.<p>

"You can't spare one beer?" an amused voice responded back as the door to Joe's bar closed with a thump behind the tall gangly man.

Joe turned around at the familiar voice and couldn't help the smile on his face.

"Adam! I was hoping you'd stop by."

Joe sent most of the staff home just fifteen minutes ago but Mike and two others remained to help him close up. Joe himself was wiping down the bar after a long but very profitable night. He put the rag down, poured beer into a mug and placed it on the bar in front of him for Methos to take.

Methos took off his coat and put it on the stool next to the one he then sprawled on. He took a sip of the beer and made visible signs of appreciation.

"How are you, Joe?" He said with his usually lazy smile. Methos always reminded Joe of a cat.

"Not bad," Joe kept his tone deliberately light. "Just finished looking over the closing report for Kristin Gilles's watcher, before she sends it to Headquarters. We still don't know who the unknown Immortal who challenged Gilles was. It was dark. She did think I should watch Mac extra carefully as the unknown Immortal seems to have driven off with him. She is leaving town tomorrow for Paris so I offered to look into that for her." Joe held Methos' gaze steadily as the other man raised his eyebrow. "Shame I'm a little busy lately and our anonymous friend probably left town. Still, one cannot be too careful."

"Thanks, Joe." Methos briefly glanced at the others who were still cleaning up.

"Hmm. Don't mention it," muttered Joe. He also made sure that Mike was far enough away and continued in a low tone. "I would have appreciated some heads up, though. I thought you were coming to our fair city after a stop in Chicago and Texas. I got a call to expect you in two weeks and I had the whole welcome mat prepared."

"What can I say? When I was in the New York Headquarters, new information came up about a new modeling agency and I fancied a trip to the other side of the country. I needed a holiday," Methos smiled brightly. "Not happy to see me sooner?"

Joe looked at the cleaning crew again and spoke quietly, "Not when you are supposed to be on Watcher business and instead are seen associating with a very high profile Immortal who I have to report on. You were lucky she didn't recognize you. And you're making my life difficult. I'm already treading a fine line here."

"Adam Pierson took a little tour of America. He just got here, Joe. First time in this part of the world, he is bound to be curious and change his itinerary. Especially with the upcoming autumn festival in this fair city. Adam couldn't resist. All very plausible. It's not a crime to decide to come here first. Relax."

Joe shook his head, "You know, talking in the third person about yourself is annoying."

Methos sipped his beer again. "Anyway, I'm here now, ready for Watcher business and ready to make my very insightful presentation to you, the Provisional Head of the American Northwest division. Well, and to the general Watcher meeting here later on Friday."

"What is it about anyway? All I got is a call from Paris talking about innovation and new advancements and updating our cataloguing and the young researcher from Paris who will show me the benefits to, and I quote for it makes no sense, 'modern inclusive chronicle preservation system', whatever the hell that is." Joe took up the rag and finished wiping the bar as he talked. Then he sat on the stool behind the bar and looked attentively at Methos.

In the background, Methos could hear the scraping of the chairs being pulled up and Mike making jokes to the others as he wiped the floor. Joe was still waiting for him to say something but Methos took his time. He was looking forward to Joe's reaction.

"The database, Joe."

Joe looked puzzled. "The database?" He said.

"Yes, the database." Methos took a deep breath. "My presentation is about a computer database which we would be able to update not just from the central location but also from any computer outfitted with the software and where we can also keep our chronicles in a digital format and which would make research simpler and faster through a search engine and cross reference." Methos narrated in a very official, rehearsed tone and finally took another breath. He grinned, "I wrote this sale speech. I think it's convincing. I got more, if you want to hear."

Joe's eyes widened, "You mean the type of database that five month ago almost destroyed the Watcher organization and threatened to expose the Immortals to the public? That database? The disk which Mac had to destroy with a light show on the Eiffel Tower? The one that Vemas believed was the stupidest thing you and Don ever did? Jesus."

"Yep, that database." Methos took another sip. He paused for effect. "But much more detailed and complex."

"How..? Why..?" Joe sighed in frustration. "You need to explain from the beginning because from where I'm sitting the European Division has lost its mind."

"Well, about a week after you left for Scotland, I got called in to the office of the new Head of European Division. I thought that they were cleaning up from the Kalas mess and since I got involved in that I was a tiny bit worried. Mostly about getting a bullet in the head and needing a new identity. But the new Head actually wanted to talk to me about the database and how Don and I designed it and how it had potential. So he gave me resources to develop it."

"I need a drink for this. Last time we were in that office, Vemas was ready to shoot us for endangering the Watchers and putting all information into one basket," Joe said as he took a glass and poured himself a shot of whiskey. He looked at Methos a gestured at the bottle. Methos nodded and Joe poured him a shot too.

Methos, set the beer aside for a minute, drank the shot quickly and nodded his head, "Yes, but now the Watchers had time to reconsider and the higher ups agree that moving with the time usually works in our favor. We just need more security layers and stricter passwords and plausible deniability if this comes under any public scrutiny. I now have a team of highly skilled computer programmers working for me and a few hackers to make a secure system. Joe, it will work this time."

Joe looked skeptical. "Ok, say this database is a good thing. And that is a big if. For thousands of years we kept our chronicles in writing on different continents, decentralized, except for a ten central archives around the world. Right. And now what, we will keep it on disks? Transfer it all? There is too much information for all that. We will still have written chronicles. Only now we will also have a bunch of names on the screen. Is that really worth the risk?"

"It will be more than a bunch of names, Joe. We would be able to keep track of locations, seeing where all known Immortals are at any given time. And with photographs. That would certainly be useful."

Joe snorted, "Yeah. For you."

Methos arched one eyebrow, "Why, Joseph, are you implying that I am working on this project to know what cities I should steer clear off? That idea never even entered my mind."

Joe smiled and said, "I do understand the benefit of that. We would be able to better predict any potential conflicts. But again, it seems too much of a risk."

"You have to think of the future Joe. And you know how disorganized the archives are at our ten locations. Think how great it would be if you need to find a chronicle or a reference and all you would have to do is access that catalogue for each archive from your own home. Now you have to travel and sort through references and card catalogues. And not all catalogues are on computer yet. But they could be and they will be. And in one location. Think of the convenience. I was trying to find this reference to Methos in Darius' chronicle which I knew had to be in Jetaux volume but it took me three weeks just to find the location not to mention the call number. If the catalogue was on the computer I would know sooner that the Jetauz volume was in the Roman archive for some obscure reason. And I would not actually have to go to Rome. Just get someone copy the reference for me."

"Why were you looking for that reference? Never mind. I don't want to know what you are rewriting. Look, I understand the benefit of an easier search but to convert everything onto a disk? That could take a while. And that is not how we Watcher always worked. We can't just start putting everything on the computer. I really don't think it's worth it."

"Watchers did evolve, Joe. You are not writing on clay tablets or papyrus anymore. Technology evolves and if Watchers are to survive, they need to evolve with it."

"Look, I know. Yes, there were some innovations with technology in the past, sure. Watchers didn't get to keep the copies of their own chronicles before, after they were done with a volume. Now, I write up my notes about Macleod in his chronicle and when each book gets full, it gets Xeroxed now and I keep the copy while the original goes into Paris archives because of his Scottish origin."

"Yes, I know, Joe. I know how that works. And I read them. He does get into trouble a bit too much. But there is a lot of fun stuff in there too." Methos finished his beer and leaned over to pour himself another. Joe rolled his eyes and poured himself another shot of whiskey.

Methos said, "Ok, when you became Mac's Watcher you had a summary of his life and a list of things to know from one of the researchers who read his chronicles."

"Yeah, the standard one. My predecessor keeled over unexpectedly in '79 and I got a nice promotion."

"And you had to wait how long before you actually got to read his actual chronicles?"

Joe calculated in his head, "Nine month for the early ones. Mac went to Paris in June of 1980. Met Tessa there and stayed while she studied. Got out of the Game too which I think is why the universe is having him make up for all that lost time now. Anyway, I read a lot then."

"Right. You had almost four hundred years of Chronicles to get through."

Joe nodded, "Well, I didn't read all of them at once. And they would have sent me some to read if I requested them. And a year later I finally got the photocopies the last Watcher made for later years. And Mac was in Paris pretty often for me to catch up."

"Ok, so say you were following the Immortal who never really went to one of the archive cities. You would have to rely on copies or researcher's summaries for any inquires. And not all researchers are as thorough as I am."

"Where are you going with this?" Joe said.

"Imagine if it was possible for you to get to the chronicles on a database. At your own home. And maybe not the actual text, although, I think one day and one day soon that might be possible, but even dates and places and descriptions of all the Immortals Mac ever met and other important factors. And you can even run statistical analyses." Methos looked at Joe expectantly.

Joe thought about just how easier it might be to identify Immortals without calling for inquires to many incompetent researchers. He shook his head, "I have this research guy in New York who can pull a lot of that stuff for me pretty quickly already. I don't know if it would be easier for me to do it myself. I do like the idea of tracing the last known location. But the important point here is, Adam, that five month ago the Watchers almost lost the whole secret society status. Why would this database be a good idea if our system has been working fine so far?"

"Because we need to move with the times and it is not as easy to follow Immortals as it once was. Yes, you have handlers at every major airport checking swords, which really makes traveling a pain, but it is harder to just follow over long distances and connections especially if an Immortal has swords stashed in different cities or pays a mortal to get it through customs. And a little threat of exposure is worth all that. And I did mention a high security team." Methos then paused for effect, took another drink, and sat there with a light in his eyes and an irritating smirk. Joe realized that Methos was about to tell him something entertaining.

Methos took another sip, stalling, and then said, "And the best part, I pitched this idea to Headquarters which really got them all excited. See, if anyone ever tries to expose the database, leak it to the press again or something, we would just counter that it is all an elaborate game with points and everything. Immortals already get various points in their files and Watchers are generally ranked. And we could put all the unofficial bets on it too. So it would work. Next time someone like Christine goes to the press, the Watchers could just counter that it is all just elaborate training game with faked photos. You know that would work! I should have thought of it earlier." Methos looked very pleased with himself.

Joe nodded, "Yeah, that might work but it still seems like a lot of work and not enough results. And let me say it again, why should we scan everything into computers and enter data if our system already works fine? And you would have to start from scratch since Mac did make that disk extra crispy."

Methos was suddenly concentrating very hard, starring at his beer. His face looked slightly guilty.

"Adam?" Joe asked suspiciously. "What is it?"

"Well…Joe, I should probably have mentioned…You see…" Methos was obviously stalling and he wasn't usually this shy.

"Spit it out," Joe said.

Methos' hand scratched the back of his neck. "I was working at Don' bookstore as I now technically own it. I was organizing. Storing some of my old books there too. Lovely basement. Anyway, I found another copy."

"Of the disk? There was another copy! That whole insanity could have been for nothing?" Joe's voice got a little loud and he saw Mike look up at him with a question in his face. Joe waved him off.

"Yep. Lucky too it was me who found it. It seems Don knew more about computers than I thought. So when the Headquarters assigned me to do this, I showed them the template. They seemed thrilled, really." Methos gave a small shrug as if to say that he was just following the leaders and had nothing to do with anything. Joe considered that it was probably why Methos survived for five thousand years.

Joe closed his eyes. All that drama with Kalas and all that worry and there was another copy! He put the whisky bottle away before he was tempted to drink it all.

After another moment, he said, "So European Headquarters is pretty set on this? Why are you pitching then?"

"Oh, they are on board. And most of Asia too. There was the meeting of the higher ups three weeks ago. But they want the official input from all the Watchers, especially regional heads, so it doesn't come back to bite them. Plus, we need to see who is most computer literate and how to best set up the system. So I and two from my teams are traveling to all regional meetings."

"So it doesn't really matter what I think, then. You could have said so. Or send someone else to tell me. Although, it is good to see you."

Methos smiled a very tentative smile, "It matters, Joe. You were there last May. You actually can see the downside better than most. But you also can't make waves right now. Paris is not too happy with you. So you can't be just grudgingly accepting here. You need to show that you are onboard and a team player. And it is a good idea. I'm not just saying it."

Joe's insides got warmer and he closed his eyes again. "I don't need you to look out for me, Adam."

"Who says I am? I'm just traveling. Do I need to have a motive other than work?" Methos said is very fake indignation.

"Yeah, you do. You don't fool me. You didn't travel to see Mac just for the company either."

"Hey, I just needed a place to stay. I was just here for Watcher business. And if he can keep his head that is just a bonus. He got me house painting, Joe. House painting! I haven't done that in at least three decades."

"Yeah, you are all selfishness. And you can stay in the hotel the Watchers are officially putting you up at."

"Adam Pierson did check in this morning," Methos said.

Joe nodded at Mike and the others as they waved goodbye and got ready to leave. He looked at Methos again. "A game, huh. It might work. But you will need to get creative about it. Maybe, we will ask at the general meeting on Friday, then, for more ideas on that. But I'm still keeping my chronicles in paper form. And having my own paper copy."

Methos smiled. "It's the future, Joe. You'll be using it in no time. Just think how easier it will be to find Immortals."


End file.
